We began today by visiting the ruins of the ancient city of Caesarea by the Sea. The city was built by King Herod to honor Caeser the Roman Emperor, and to be the seat of Roman power in Palestine. We spent time in the Roman theater, and Hippodrome as well as the ruins of Herod’s summer palace and the old city ruins in which once housed the home of Cornelius (Acts 10), and where St. Paul was held in prison for over 2 years.
Below is a video of our singing in the Roman theater. You can hear how amazing the acoustics are. The children playing on the stage behind us are just about as loud and clear as our voices in up in the seats; all done with a natural amplification. I’m not a sound engineer but it’s amazing to me how well the sound carries there.
In this second video we heard the Word of the Lord from Acts 10 about Peter and Cornelius. We gentiles gather as Christians in the Holy Land precisely because God showed His great love for all the world by offering not only salvation to the gentiles but even the gift of being baptized with the Holy Spirit.
These are only a few of our high lights. Please look for more exciting updates tomorrow as we sail on the Sea of Galilee!
Shalom,
Pastor Brad
In seven hours from the time of this writing (9AM CST) it will be midnight in Bethlehem. Crowds will fill Manger Square outside the Church of the Nativity which was built over the place of Jesus’ birth; the oldest church in Christendom. And, in 17 days we will be on our way to the Holy Land where we too will worship in the place of Jesus’ birth. I want to invite all my readers to follow our pilgrimage as we post video clips of our time in Israel on my website, 
Unfortunately, no one has to remind me to stop and eat. It’s more like they have remind me to stop eating. Food has always been a joyful thing to me. I have fond memories of home cooked meals growing up. My mother was a fantastic cook. In scripture, we find the concept of feasting through the Old and New Testaments. In fact, it’s the central theme of our redemption story. One day we will all feast with Jesus around the table at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9). Each time we as Christians celebrate the Holy Eucharist (Communion), we are pointing to the great feast of the Lamb that will be the consummation of all feasting.
Think of something you really want. Now, how much do you really want it? It had always been a dream of mine to go to Israel, to walk in Jesus footsteps. I wanted to hear Him say to me the words He said to others in scripture. I wanted to put myself in their place. That is a great part of pilgrimage, to put yourself into the time and space where Christ lived, where He walked and talked, and worked so many miracles.
Cold, colder, warmer, warmer…hot! That’s what we hear when we play the game of looking for something and a person is trying to lead us with cold and warm clues. The closer we are to finding what we’re looking for the “hotter” we get. Then, when what we’re looking for is right under our noses but we still can’t see it, the clue giver says, “Now you’re red hot!” Sometimes we just can’t see what’s in plain sight. You know. We can’t see the forest for all the trees.
In John’s gospel, the first recorded words of Jesus are in the form of a question to two men who are following Him. We know the two men were Andrew and Simon Peter, brothers who became the first of the twelve to follow Jesus. Knowing the two were following, Jesus turned to them and asked, “What are you looking for?”. What a great question.
“Are you ready? All systems are go in T minus 5-4-3-2-1 – Blast-off!” Ever since I was a boy watching Major Astro on TV each day after school, I’ve loved countdowns. They’re exciting. They bring you to the moment when something big is about to happen. In 30 days from today something big will happen. I will be leading a team of 17 people on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. We will leave for Israel on January 9, 2017 and return on January 18.